Man Commits Suicide at Swell Season Concert in California: Video

by Amy Judd | August 20, 2010 at 09:51 am

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The Audience and Band at the Swell Season Concert at Saratoga Mountain Winery in California Watched in Horror as a Man Jumped to His Death Thursday Night

Concertgoers were unwilling witnesses to a man's suicide on Thursday night when he climbed on to the roof and jumped onto the stage at the Swell Season concert. According to the SFWeekly, witnesses say the unnamed man sprinted and stumbled to the top of the roof and then jumped off. He fell through the lighting rigging and landed on a speaker near Swell Season member Glen Hansard.

The band has now released the following statement regarding the incident:

"The band, crew and all involved with them are shocked and saddened by the unfortunate events of last night," said the band's statement issued to Hot Press. "Their hearts go out to the victim and his friends and family."

One witness described the man as being in his mid-to-late twenties with dark hair and told SFWeekly:

"He stood alone and he seemed melancholy and removed from the show ... but not necessarily distraught," the witness writes. "We made eye contact and smiled at each other and shortly after, I noticed he had left."
"Almost immediately, I noticed a figure climbing onto the roof. He pulled himself up on the roof and starting sprinting towards the edge. It's quite a distance and he lost his footing more than once. He kept getting up, determined to follow through."

Glen Hansard went over to the man after he fell and paramedics and medical staff were quickly on the scene but the man was reportedly not moving and he could not be revived.

The San Jose Mercury News reports that the man's death is being treated as a suicide, and they state he was there with a friend.